Beautiful mess...why people think Christians are fake...when worship is rough. These are just a few titles of blog posts I've read recently. Each author is a Christ Follower and each author delves into that side of being a Christ Follower that gets more than a little messy. The side that says "life gets rough and we don't have it all together".
I attend church regularly. I read a lot of blogs by Christ Followers. I interact with people on a regular basis. Life gets rough, it gets messy and we don't have it all together, though we would reallllllyyyyyy like to pretend that we do. There's the crux. We like to pretend that as Christ Followers life never gets messy. We shine s***, as a friend would say and then pretend like it isn't, well, you know, and don't.fool.anyone. I contend, rather loudly, the world does not need to see another Christ Follower pretending that everything is okay. They need Christ Followers to keep it real.
As a Christ Follower who tries really hard to keep it real, I will say the sentence. "life gets rough and I don't have it all together" but the sentence doesn't end there. It continues, "and yet, I have hope that I'm not alone in this pit and life will get better." See, to me, that's what being a Christ Follower is all about. I may be in a rough patch, I may not be in the happiest of happy places and really feel like life keeps throwing rocks at me, but I have hope. Not cheesy, fake, I have to say this because I'm a Christian hope, but deep, abiding, feel it to my bones hope that God is there with me. In the pit. I don't have it all together. Life is rough and sometimes I feel very much alone (Yes, today is one of those days). But I have hope that I won't be in the pit forever. It's the kind of hope that has me laughing through the tears. Hope that allows me to praise God even when I am ranting at God. Hope that allows me to sing a song with lyrics such as "Prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love" or "I'm so wretched, overwhelmed with you" with fervor and meaning, not afraid to admit, I don't have it all together.
I am a Christ Follower, I don't have it all together and life is throwing rocks at me...and I have hope.
Just keepin' it real.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
A building or a community?
What is a church? Is it a building? Is it a group of people with similar beliefs? Is it a community? What is a church?
For so many the word "church" means a building. A place where people go for an hour or so on a Sunday morning (or maybe a Saturday night). They sit, they listen, the sing, they go home, they drink bad coffee, they go home. Many times when I say the word "church" I mean the building.
When the Bible talks about the early "church" it doesn't mean a building. The word is used in relation to the group of people that gathered together, that group was the "church". They may have met in a building but it is the body of believers that the Bible refers to as the church, not the place they met.
Modern day Christian culture, though, puts a lot more emphasis on the building being church, rather than the people. Sometimes there is a push to remember church is the people, not a building, but most of the time that point is lost. Why does any of this matter? Good question.
Recently I was talking with a friend about the community of believers and the building of the church. We talked about going to church, going through the rituals and liturgy church services have come to be versus gathering as a community of believers and allowing the Spirit of God to move and lead the time together. Is one church and the other not?
We talked about what a community of believers looks like, rather than a legalistic church which holds on to its rules and regulations for the sake of the rules and regulations (the Sanctuary is to be used solely for the purpose of worship on Sunday morning, nothing else). Is one a church and the other not?
I'm still working this through, obviously, and I definitely have my ideas. Niggling at the back of my mind is the knowledge that while church can be a building, more importantly church is a community of believers, it is the people.
For so many the word "church" means a building. A place where people go for an hour or so on a Sunday morning (or maybe a Saturday night). They sit, they listen, the sing, they go home, they drink bad coffee, they go home. Many times when I say the word "church" I mean the building.
When the Bible talks about the early "church" it doesn't mean a building. The word is used in relation to the group of people that gathered together, that group was the "church". They may have met in a building but it is the body of believers that the Bible refers to as the church, not the place they met.
Modern day Christian culture, though, puts a lot more emphasis on the building being church, rather than the people. Sometimes there is a push to remember church is the people, not a building, but most of the time that point is lost. Why does any of this matter? Good question.
Recently I was talking with a friend about the community of believers and the building of the church. We talked about going to church, going through the rituals and liturgy church services have come to be versus gathering as a community of believers and allowing the Spirit of God to move and lead the time together. Is one church and the other not?
We talked about what a community of believers looks like, rather than a legalistic church which holds on to its rules and regulations for the sake of the rules and regulations (the Sanctuary is to be used solely for the purpose of worship on Sunday morning, nothing else). Is one a church and the other not?
I'm still working this through, obviously, and I definitely have my ideas. Niggling at the back of my mind is the knowledge that while church can be a building, more importantly church is a community of believers, it is the people.
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